What If?
by Julie Trist
Summary: What if the largest SkyWing egg had survived? What if Starflight had been born under the moons? What if Sunny inherited more from her father then her strange scales? And what if Clay and Tsunami were stuck in this drastically wrong universe where there is no hope of escape?
1. Clay

Clay's dreams were always strange, with flying scavengers, swords in stones, and the like, but this dream was different. This dream felt like it was real.

It began with him in the cave that had been his home for the first six years of his life, like he had just woken up. Feeling a little bewildered, but not sure why, Clay had stumbled out into the tunnel that led to the main cavern, only to be hit with a flying rabbit.

As Clay ducked, just in case more food came whizzing down the tunnel, he heard raised voices coming from the cavern.

"It wasn't like it was her fault! You were the one who decided it would be a good idea to try that spell!"

"I was TRYING to HELP!"

"Well, you did a great job of that!"

Clay cautiously crept down the tunnel to the main cave, where he was sure the voices were coming from. As he crawled, a new voice joined the others.

"Really, it's fine! Nothing bad happened, so no harm done, right?"

The first two voices both started roaring at the top of their lungs at the same time.

By now Clay had almost reached the entrance of the tunnel, and a black dragon stood outside of it, like a guard. And behind him was a copper dragon, in a submissive position as if someone was scolding her across the room. Which, Clay realized, was probably what was going on.

With a shock, Clay realized that he was looking at Starflight and Peril. Immediately he forgot about the danger of possible flying food and bounded up to Peril's side. "Hey, what's going on?"

Starflight turned to glare at him irritably, his unusually sharp gaze like flint. "It's about time you got here. I assumed you would show up five minutes earlier."

A mocking voice sounded from across the room. "Oh, I guess your visions still aren't very _accurate_ , are they?"

Clay's eyes widened when he recognized Sunny. It was strange that the SandWing was being so rude, but even stranger was the cruel expression on her face, like _I know I'm better than you in every way, so you should just lie down and die_. He was surprised Starflight and Peril hadn't just curled up and started crying.

Clay blinked, and realized that he had missed Starflight's retort. But that didn't matter because he had to stop the fighting. "Guys. _Guys_. _GUYS_!" He waited patiently while they calmed down. "Where are Glory ad Tsunami? Maybe they could help resolve this argument."

Starflight immediately opened his mouth to reply, but Sunny cut off his response by stalking over to his side of the cave, still looking mildly dangerous but also more friendly. "Who's Glory?" She asked.

"That's what I was going to say," Starflight replied somewhat prissily. "He thinks Glory is a RainWing substitute for one of the Dragonets of Destiny, and that she's also the queen of not one, but _two_ tribes. Clay, are you sure that lizard Sunny caught for you last night wasn't sick? That would explain a lot."

Clay opened his mouth, and then closed it. Then opened it again. "How did you know what I was thinking?"

Sunny snorted a laugh. "Don't we all wish we knew."

Starflight bored a hole into Clay's brain with his eyes. His decidedly _not blind_ eyes. Clay choked a little. "You can see?"

"Well, yes. I was born this way." Starflight said clearly baffled by Clay's strange behavior.

Clay stood there, in the cave, as Starflight and Sunny started asking him questions and sniping at each other. He was frozen stiff because he had finally realized one important thing.

This was not a dream. This was reality.

And something was terribly wrong.


	2. Tsunami

Tsunami was having a bad day.

It was no surprise, really, seeing as her current companions' were _not_ the ones she was used to talking to.

She turned to look at all the dragons that were in the cave with her.

Animus Sunny. Mind-reading, future-seeing Starflight. Fireless Peril. Webs, Dune, and Kestrel. A SkyWing, MudWing, and IceWing whose names she didn't know. And, of course, Clay.

Clay was the only one here Tsunami could really trust. She'd known that since she'd woken up this morning.

 _Gentle talons prodded Tsunami, and she rolled over to snap at the dragon that had disturbed her rest, only to find four anxious faces staring down at her._

 _"_ _She's feeling confused," Starflight said. "Now she's wondering how I know that. She's wondering why I can see. Oh, and now she's thinking about incredible creative ways to shut me up."_

 _Sunny rolled her eyes. "You'd think that you'd be able to take the hint._ I _think she's lost it." She glanced at Peril. "Ember, what do you think?"_

 _Tsunami's mind felt like it was exploding with all of the strange things going on._ Why is Sunny calling Peril "Ember"? And what's going on with her rude attitude? Most of the time she's really polite.

 _Starflight snorted. "Well, yeah. But when you insult her ability, that tends to flip her switch."_

 _Sunny snarled. "Well, why don't we see how well_ your _abilities are working out for you."_

 _Peril moved between them. "That has nothing to do with this." She glanced down at Tsunami. "Are you sure you're alright? Clay said that you might be feeling confused."_

 _Tsunami sat up and turned to Clay, blinking the last bits of sleep out of her eyes. "You_ did _?"_

 _"_ _Well, yeah," Clay responded. "I mean, what's going on? Where's Glory?"_

 _Sunny watched the two of them a little like a bird watches its prey. "Who's Glory? You mentioned that name earlier, but…"_

 _"_ _She's the fifth Dragonet of Destiny." Tsunami said. "She's a RainWing."_

 _Sunny blinked in surprise, then turned to talk to Peril. Tsunami took her chance to draw Clay to one side._

 _"_ _Clay, what is going on?" She hissed as soon as she felt Sunny and Peril couldn't hear them. Starflight might still be able to, if what she thought was correct, but he was trying to butt into Sunny and Peril's conversation, so she didn't think he would be paying attention. "Why is Starflight acting like he can read minds? Why is Sunny so unfriendly? Why are they calling Peril Ember? Clay,_ where is Glory _!"_

 _Clay blinked at her unhappily. "I don't know." He paused, like he was debating telling her something important. "But… I think we might be in some sort of alternate reality."_

 _Tsunami stared at him blankly for two seconds, and then spoke. "Well, that would explain a lot. If we are in an alternate reality, then maybe Starflight was born under the three moons, and that's how he was able to tell what I was thinking. Maybe the reason Glory is missing is because the SkyWing egg that was supposed to hatch on the brightest night_ did _."_

 _Clay nodded when Tsunami sighed and said, "You're not following me at all, are you."_

 _"_ _Well, I mean I think I get it," he amended, "But if we're in an alternate reality, then what do we do about it?"_

 _"_ _Convince Sunny and Starflight to leave the cave with us. Then we leave the cave to find Glory."_

 _"_ _The cave?" Clay looked around, as if noticing for the first time that they were in the net of tunnels and caverns that had been their home for six years. "So… we're back at the beginning, before we ended the war and started Jade Mountain Academy?"_

 _"_ _Yes!" Tsunami snapped. "Which raises another question. If we haven't escaped the mountain yet, then why is Peril here?"_

 _"_ _Maybe Kestrel found a way to hide her from Queen Scarlet," Cay suggested, "And then brought her here when we were hatched."_

 _Tsunami growled, "Do you not realize how dangerous that is? In such close quarters, Peril could easily burn us all to a crisp!"_

 _Clay pointed to the dragons across the cave. "I think that may be another thing that may have changed in this reality."_

 _Tsunami looked over to where he was pointing. Sunny was arguing with Starflight, but Peril was quietly watching from in between them, her blue eyes looking like a watered down version of the Peril's they knew, and her scales were also a much paler, sickly copper color. Her tail was thumping on the ground._

 _"_ _Well, she seems to have gotten a major personality change, and her eye color is a little off," Tsunami noted, "But other than that, I think there's no big difference."_

 _"_ _Just look at her tail."_

 _Tsunami took a closer look at her tail. Now that she was paying attention, she saw that it was brushing against Starflight's. And yet his scales didn't look like they were burned or charred. In fact, his scales looked perfectly fine. She spun back around to Clay. "Peril was hatched in the same egg as a brother who had too little fire. Do you think that now_ she _has too little fire?"_

 _Clay blinked slowly. "That… would make sense."_

 _Tsunami rolled her eyes. "Okay. So before we try to get our friends to leave the mountain, we should decide if we should tell them the truth or not."_

 _"_ _Truth," Clay said immediately. "But… if we leave the mountain, can we bring Peril, too?" He asked shyly._

 _Tsunami let out an irritated huff. It wasn't like Peril would even be useful without her firescales. But Clay really seemed to like Peril, and even though she_ definitely _wasn't Tsunami's favorite dragon, that had to count for something. "_ Fine _. Now let's tell everyone what's going on, and see if any of them will come with us."_

And so, instead of quietly escaping with Sunny, Starflight, and Peril (or Ember, as everyone else called her), Tsunami and Clay found themselves explaining everything to their guardians and the SkyWing dragonet as well, because Sunny insisted that they know.

"So," The SkyWing dragonet summed up, "You're from another universe where I've been replaced by a _RainWing_ , and everyone else is pathetically weak except for Ember, who's a _monster_." Tsunami had to admit he had a point with the monster bit, but the "pathetically weak" part was just plain rude.

"What's your name?" She asked suddenly.

He shot her glare. "I already told you, my name's Spinel, like the gem." The name suited him. He had red-orange scales that glinted with the light from the hole in the cavern ceiling, which made him extra sparkly compared to the others, and made Tsunami wonder what he would look like in full sunlight.

Kestrel, Webs, Dune, and the IceWing and MudWing, who had introduced themselves as Hvitur and Asha, exchanged glances, before Hvitur spoke.

"So, _if_ you come from an alternate reality," He said with a tone of voice that made it clear that he was still doubting the truth behind her words, "Then you must know how the war ends."

"We _do_ , actually." Tsunami snapped. "Sunny's mother is made queen by the Eye of Onyx, and Blister and Burn are killed."

" _Blister and Burn_ are killed?" Sunny asked. "I certainly hope that doesn't mean Blaze is my mother."

"Don't worry," Clay assured her. "Your mother is super awesome, and she is most definitely not Blaze. Her name is Thorn."

Asha tilted her head at Clay. "Did you ever find out who killed Queen Oasis? I've often thought that scavengers couldn't kill the mighty queen of the SandWings."

"Queen Oasis _was_ killed by scavengers," Tsunami replied. "But the one who orchestrated her death was Blister."

She didn't understand why Asha looked so surprised. "That… changes things," she murmured. "I'll have to look into this with Webs."

Peril— no, her name was _Ember_ , Tsunami reminded herself— stepped forward from her mother's side. "You said that you would be going to the Rain Kingdom to find your friend and end the war." She stopped suddenly, as if hesitant to continue.

"Yes," Clay said gently, prompting her on.

"So I would like to ask, could you take me with you?"

Clay beamed at her, and Tsunami had to suppress an eye-roll.

"Absolutely not." Kestrel said before either of them had a chance to respond. "I don't care what the SeaWing and the MudWing do, but Ember, you're too fragile. The only reason I've stayed under this mountain for as long as I have is because the Talons of Peace guaranteed it as a safe spot to keep you without exposing you to the elements or to Queen Scarlet, who would kill us the second she saw us."

Ember turned to face Kestrel with just as much ferocity as Tsunami would have. "I know that! But Clay's going to be leaving the mountain! If he leaves, I'll have nobody to talk to! Nobody who understands me! I think I can face the world if I have him by my side! I may not have fire, but I can fight."

Tsunami wanted to puke at all the sappy things Ember was saying, but when she turned to Clay to complain under her breath, Tsunami found him standing up to face Kestrel as well. "I think Ember should come," he said, "She's clearly not going to change her mind. And we'll keep her safe."

Tsunami groaned. Despite what she had promised Clay, she had secretly been hoping that Ember would decide she didn't want to come on their journey. She turned to Sunny and Starflight. "Well?" She said, "What about you?"

Starflight stepped forward. "They're not lying to us about this other world. I can see memories of their lives in the other universe that are too vivid to make up."

"Well, in that case, I'm coming with you," Sunny declared. "I'm not going to turn down my friends. I go where you go, and that's that. Besides, I think it's high time we stopped the war."

"I'll go too." Starflight said immediately.

Webs sighed. "We may as well make Spinel go with them. He is a good fighter, and if they want to stop the war, they will need the SkyWing Dragonet."

Tsunami refrained from telling him that they already had a perfectly good RainWing to stop the war, thank you very much, and they were already full up on unhelpful SkyWings with no likeable qualities whatsoever.

Spinel nodded and sighed. "It's not like I have anything better to do, anyway."

Clay turned to their guardians. "What will you be doing?"

Dune turned away. "I'm going back to the Sand Kingdom. There's someone there I need to apologize to."

Kestrel snorted. "I'm going strike off on my own. Since you are so sure you can handle yourselves, I've got nothing to do."

"I'll probably stay here with Asha," Webs said. "And do a little research on what Blister is up to."

"I'll stay go with the dragonets," Hvitur said. "I doubt Queen Glacier would take me back, anyway."

Tsunami had to admit that freezing death-breath would come in handy if they were in trouble.

"Okay," She said. "Then let's go!"


	3. Glory

Days pass.

Months. Years.

Did it even matter anymore? All they did was lounge in the sun, changing colors like chameleons and chattering about the most mundane things.

 _Why do I even care?_

Mangrove frequently met up with her to search for Orchid. Kinkajou and Tamarin looked up to her as their mentor, always wanting to learn more and more. Grandeur acted like she couldn't care less about her, but always made a point of visiting her once a week. Jambu always stopped by at least twice a day, to go flying or fruit gathering or other normal things.

 _Don't you ever feel… like there's more to your life than this?_

That hadn't changed. Would probably never change.

 _Not normal._

 _Too smart._

 _Too bold._

 _Refuses to sleep during suntime._

 _Uses her venom._

 _Not normal._

No. She was normal.

She was _normal._

 _Not normal_.

She wasn't sure why or how, but suddenly she had curled her tail around her hammock and flung herself into the sky, unfurling her wings as she opened her eyes for what felt like the first time.

She flew down, back into the rainforest, towards the ground, away from the prying light of the sun. She flew a little too close to a vine-covered tree, and had to shake out the flowers stuck on her head.

She was so close to the truth. She had found the hole a month ago, debated exploring, now was the time to go inside—

She saw dark scales in her path, and then crashed headlong into a dragon.

They both fell to the ground, but she recovered first, giving her time to get a better look at the dragon she had crashed into.

He was larger than her, with a nimble build, and his scales looked like they belonged to the night sky, dark with flashes of silver under his wings.

"I'm so sorry," She said, trying to act like she didn't know he shouldn't be in the rainforest. "Are you alright?"

He turned to face her a little guiltily, like he had been caught doing something he shouldn't. "Yes, I think. Are you?"

"I'm fine. Crashing into trees and landing safely is a necessary skill in the rainforest." She smiled sweetly. "What kind of dragon are you?" She asked suddenly, trying to gather as much information as possible while still sounding like a dumb RainWing "What's your name?"

He flashed her a grin, like he could see what she was doing. "Well, aren't we friendly?"

She tilted her head at him, still acting innocent. "Shouldn't you be friendly too?"

"Well, maybe, if you want me too." He put a wing around her shoulder, like he was testing her to see if she could put up with him.

She decided it wasn't worth it and shrugged his wing away. "Listen stranger." She snapped, dropping all pretenses. "I know you're not supposed to be in this rainforest. And the queen will know it, too. So unless you want me to take you to Her Majesty, I would tell me your name."

He smirked. "See, and I'm kind of wondering why you want to know. Could it be that you're… thinking that I'm kind of cute?"

Everything about this dragon seemed to rub her the wrong way, and she couldn't help the way she snapped back. "That's for me to know and you to never find out. Now if you don't tell me your name I will use my extremely deadly secret weapon on you and kill you." She flapped her wings, lifting herself up a little to make it seem like she meant business.

He raised one eyebrow, not looking the least bit concerned for his well-being. "I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours."

She gritted her teeth. "Not. Interested."

He grinned again, which he really needed to stop doing. It was getting distracting. "Well, _I_ am."

She groaned. "I give up. I'm done. I have something else I need to do, anyway." She was willing to bet that it would be easy enough to follow this dragon while she was camouflaged. She was also willing to bet that he would lead her to the hole, but it was better to be safe then sorry.

"Wait!" He called, looking genuinely worried as she began to fly away. "Stay and talk. Then I might be able to tell you my name."

She wasn't entirely sure why she turned back around. "What's your name?"

He grinned again, and she couldn't help the pink color her scales turned. "It's Deathbringer. What's yours?"

She touched down next to him. "Not telling."

He huffed irritably, but looked a little amused. "Fine, then I'll have to guess."

"I won't tell you if you guess right."

Deathbringer rolled his eyes. "Then I guess I'll give you a nickname."

He reached out to touch a flower tangled in around her horns. "What's this?"

She pulled it off. "It's a morning glory." It must have gotten stuck there when she had brushed against that tree. She thought she had gotten all the flowers off.

"It's a pretty name. Suits you, don't you think?" Deathbringer plucked the flower from her palm and wound it around her horn again, then smiled. "I think I'm going to call you Glory."


	4. Starflight

"Starflight, keep up the pace!" Tsunami snapped, twisting around in midair to get a better view of him. Her thoughts echoed the call, _Ugh; he's just as slow as the other Starflight._

Her mind flashed to a skinny black dragon with bandages covering his eyes flying unsteadily.

 _Is that the other me?_ He found himself wondering.

Tsunami started to fly towards him. "Great, now you're even slower! SPEED IT UP! I'VE SEEN SLUGS GO FASTER THAN YOU!"

Everyone else turned to look at them and Starflight covered his ears. It didn't really block all the extra thoughts from his head, but it helped a little.

For the past three days, Tsunami had been relentlessly pushing Starflight, catching all his little mistakes and blowing them up to gigantic proportions, humiliating him in front of the entire group. He really wished she would stop, especially when he heard Sunny's inner thoughts sweep through his head.

 _Poor Starflight. Tsunami must be pushing him too hard._

It stung that she thought a thirty-minute flight was too much for him.

"—AND ANOTHER THING!" Tsunami continued, making him realize that she was still yelling at him. "WHY AREN'T YOU LISTENING TO ME?!"

"Well, I am now." He answered sheepishly, trying his hardest not to listen to the very hurtful things stemming from all of his companions' minds.

Tsunami scowled. "Since we've stopped now, we may as well as rest on the ground." She snapped, and abruptly shot down to a small clearing in the forest below them.

Starflight sighed miserably as everyone else followed her lead. He waited patiently for Spinel to fly down too, but the sparkly SkyWing sneered at him. " _I_ think that Tsunami's right. Even with your powers, you're _weak_."

Starflight lifted himself a bit higher; looking around at the world he hadn't known existed until three days ago. Up here, with the noise of the dragons he knew so far down below him, he could almost forget that he wasn't normal, until he closed his eyes and visions of volcanoes and rainforests and dragons he had yet to meet filled his mind.

Starflight wasn't sure why all the NightWing scrolls portrayed the future-seeing power as something that came in brief flashes, or tumbled out in twisted words as prophecies. His power wasn't like that. When Starflight closed his eyes, he could see all the futures.

Well, not all of them. Most of them. The most probable futures, and only the ones that he wanted to see. Others were too terrible to look at.

And sometimes when Starflight closed his eyes, he couldn't see any futures at all.

He hid the truth from his friends, acting like he could always predict what they were going to do. But in reality, most of the time Starflight was completely clueless.

He wondered if the other Starflight ever felt the same way.

Probably not. From what he had seen in Clay and Tsunami's minds, the other Starflight was smart and resourceful, even if he could be really annoying at times. Starflight liked scrolls, he read them and stored their information like it could make up for his glitching powers.

That was probably why the other Starflight had read scrolls, too.

Starflight couldn't help but wondering if the other Starflight was in love with the other Sunny, like he was here. He had to be; after all, Starflight was in love with the Sunny here. Not that she noticed.

A strong gust of wind blew into Starflight, knocking him out of the sky, but he regained his balance before he crashed into the trees below.

"I keep forgetting this is our first time outside." A voice said right behind him. Starflight startled and spun around to face Clay. Clay smiled ruefully. "I also keep forgetting that you can't ear me sneaking up on you."

"The other me could hear you?" Starflight asked, interested in learning as much about the other version of himself as he could.

"Yes. The other Starflight was blind," Clay admitted, although Starflight had already figured that out for himself, "so it was easier for him to listen to his surroundings."

"How did I read scrolls?" Starflight asked, genuinely curious.

Clay tilted his head. "There was a dragon who would read them to you, whenever you asked. She also carved words in wood, so that you would be able to read with your talons."

Starflight's breath caught. "Was it Sunny?"

Clay winced a little. "No."

That wasn't very reassuring, but now Starflight had to ask his question. "Um," Starflight started nervously, "did this other me—did he—did he like Sunny?"

Clay frowned, like he was trying to remember. "Glory told me about it. She said that you told Sunny that you loved her. But—" Clay looked at Starflight sympathetically. "—Glory also said that Sunny only loved you as a friend."

Starflight blinked rapidly, trying to make sense of this new information. "But—but that might not be true with this Sunny," he said hopefully, "she might decide that she loves me." The words sounded sad, or as Spinel might say, "pathetically weak", even to Starflight.

Clay moved closer, so that they were brushing wings. "That's why I came to talk to you. There's a dragon I think you might want to meet."

Before Starflight could even think of a response, Ember joined them, letting out a shriek as the wind whipped around her wings. Hvitur followed.

"Look," he told her, "I made a promise to Kestrel that I would look after you. So tell me, how is letting you get blown around by the wind a good idea?"

"ARRRGH." Ember grumbled, "You would think SOME DRAGONS have BETTER THINGS to do than STALK THEIR FRIEND'S DAUGHTER AND TELL HER WHEN SHE'S NOT BEING SAFE!"

"Well I wouldn't say that Kestrel and I are friends," Hvitur mumbled. "More like acquaintances."

Ember rolled her eyes and turned to Clay. "I just wanted to talk to my friend. Hey, friend, how are you?"

Clay squinted at her. "Weren't you… calmer before?"

"Oh, well, yeah, I _totally was_ , but when your mother tells you that she's going to make an IceWing follow you around everywhere you go, do you think _you're_ just going to sit back and say, 'Yeah, sure, go right ahead'? I thought I was finally free!" She added, flinging her wings up in the air.

"Hvitur's right," Starflight said, giving her a look that said I-can-see-the-future-and-I-know-what-will-happen-to-you. "You could get really, really sick."

Ember sighed. "I knooo-oooow. But I want to go wherever I can without having to deal with a scary IceWing. If Hvitur touched me for long enough I might actually drop down dead," she added jokingly, but they all knew (except for Clay, who might not have been clued in to the whole sickness thing) that it could actually happen.

"Oh, by the way," she told Clay and Starflight. "You might want to come down to the clearing. Our Supreme Commander, the Great Tsunami, has decided that we'll be staying there for the night."

Starflight nodded. He probably wouldn't be able to sleep, like he hadn't the past two nights the group had been outside. The stars and the moon called to him whenever he closed his eyes, and Starflight had spent the last two nights staring up at the night sky.

But still, Starflight moved down towards the clearing, flying awkwardly down to the middle of his friends below.

...

"Is something wrong?" Sunny asked. "You've been looking at me funny all evening."

"No, nothing," Starflight blurted out. "I was just thinking about what Clay told me. About the other you."

He listened intently to Sunny's mind, hoping her thoughts would leap to him. But her head muttered about her parents and why Tsunami and Clay had refused to tell her who they were. Her voice echoed, "I wonder if the other me knows about my mom and dad."

Starflight had seen them, in Dune's memories. They were faint and fleeting, and not often spotted in the crippled SandWing's mind.

"Oh, um, I'm sure she does!" Starflight said trying to be helpful. "And I'm sure they both have met you and love you and are happy!" He rambled, but Sunny just frowned.

"What about you?" She asked. "Don't you wonder about your family?"

Starflight blinked. "Oh." _All the time._ "Well, not really. You, and Clay and Tsunami, and Spinel, and Ember, and all of our guardians are my family."

She beamed at him. "That's exactly how _I_ feel!" Sunny sighed. "But… don't you wonder if there's anyone like you out there? Who can explain why you are what you are?"

Starflight wanted to tell her something that would cheer her up, something that would make her smile and tell him that she was feeling better. But before he could open his jaws, a talon tapped on his shoulder.

"Oh, hello Clay," Sunny said, "what brings you over here?"

"I have to talk to Starflight," Clay said urgently, "it's something he'll want to hear."

Clay wrapped a wing around Starflight and led him away from Sunny, who gave a cheerful little wave with her talons and joined in a conversation with Ember and Spinel, who were discussing the merits of firescales.

"So," Starflight started a little angrily, "what do you want?" He was mad that Clay had interrupted him just as he was about to say something important to Sunny,

"There's something you should know." Clay was staring at him intently as he continued. "In the other universe, you met another NightWing dragonet. She was raised by the Talons of Peace as an alternate Dragonet of Destiny. Her name was Fatespeaker."

The name gave Starflight a warm feeling, like he was somewhere safe and cozy. But all he could think was, _Sunny seemed so depressed. I should go back and cheer her up._

"And Fatespeaker, this dragonet," Clay said awkwardly, as if he'd expected his words to have more impact, "was special… to you."

 _Now_ he had Starflight's attention. "Special to me?" He asked. "But what about Sunny?"

Clay only gazed at him sympathetically as he spoke again. "I was wondering whether you would like to go on a journey with me to find her. She's probably at the Talons of Peace headquarters, with the other alternate dragonets. So if you were interested…"

 _No! Starflight wanted to shout. I'm in love with a different dragon!_ But his head was racing, thinking of the possibilities. If there was a dragon out there who actually loved him, or could, then shouldn't he give her a chance? But then what about Sunny, what would he say to her when he left to find this other dragon?

And suddenly Starflight knew what he had to say.

"No."

Clay blinked at him in surprise. "No? I thought you would want to at least meet her. She's a lot like Sunny."

"No." Starflight said firmly. "I'm not interested."

Clay sighed. "Okay, if you say so." His mind filled with images of a NightWing with dark purple underscales, and with silver scales by her eyes, like him. But there were more flashes of silver on her tail, like freckles. And a band of silver scales encircled one of her ankles. She was always with Starflight, as if Clay had never seen the two of them apart.

Starflight felt a small twinge of a confusing emotion, not quite strong enough for him to place, and he tried to block out Clay's thoughts.

...

A few days later, and Starflight was finally starting to get the hang of flying. It was thrilling, but when he mentioned this to Tsunami, she had blanched and told him to never use that word again.

But other than that, the flight was going great.

Starflight flapped his wings a little faster to catch up to Tsunami. "So," he panted, "how long until we reach the Rain Kingdom?"

She didn't even glance at him. "We would be reaching the rainforest by nightfall, but," she hesitated, finally meeting his gaze, "but I want to go to the Kingdom of the Sea first."

Starflight stared at her. " _Why_?"

Tsunami looked defensive. "Well, I was thinking about what had happened after we left the cave in my world, and then I realized—" She broke off suddenly and turned to look at Clay.

"Is that who I think it is?" He asked her, angling his head down towards the ground.

"Yes." Starflight couldn't describe the emotions running across her face. It was some sort of combination of joy and nervousness, and it was an expression you wouldn't make for just any dragon. "It's Riptide."

 _Oh._ Starflight realized as he saw Tsunami spiral down to a handsome sky-blue SeaWing. _It's love._

 _Is that what I look like around Sunny?_

But there was no time for him to ponder, because everyone else was winging down to join Tsunami and the dragon she had called Riptide.

When Starflight got down to the ground, Riptide was saying, "—not a member of the Talons of Peace. That was my _father_." His head flashed with images of—Starflight squinted—was that _Webs?_

"I understand," Clay said heavily. "I was hoping to go find one of my friends, who should be living at their main camp."

"Actually, I've been hoping to find the Talons of Peace, too," Riptide admitted, "and I think I know where their camp is. I can travel there with you, if you want."

Tsunami smiled at him, it was a toothy grin that seemed both fierce and sweet at the same time. "Thank you for your help. I'm sure Clay will be pleased to have a traveling companion."

But Starflight was frowning. Something about the friendly SeaWing seemed off; he had agreed to help Clay too readily for Starflight's liking.

"Last chance, Starflight." Clay said, turning to him. "It's never to late to come with us."

Starflight thought of the NightWing he had seen in both Clay and Tsunami's minds, and an echo of a voice, an indistinct voice that's words were unclear, sounded in his head.

"I'll do it."

As Starflight, Clay, and Riptide flew into the sky, leaving the others behind, Starflight tried to tell himself that the only reason he had agreed to this expedition was because he didn't trust Riptide, that he couldn't leave Clay alone with this dragon.

And even as he furiously told himself that Sunny was waiting for him back on the ground, the echoes of that voice, barely more than a whisper, not the voice of any dragon that he knew but so familiar it made his heart ache, was suddenly clear enough to make out words.

 _"_ _Starflight. You were so brave."_

As the voice died away inside his head, Starflight flew into the sky.


End file.
